


To Hades and Back

by Brooding_Anarchy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M, Kidnapping, Major Thalia Grace/Percy Jackson, Minor Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, New Character Creation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 05:55:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brooding_Anarchy/pseuds/Brooding_Anarchy
Summary: Kronos is gone and all the conflicts contributing to the Titan War have been solved...or have they? Bitter sentiments, high-profile kidnapping, grand theft of the Golden Fleece, and the startling revelation of another child of the Big Three will mean war and the end of Camp Half-Blood should Percy and friends fail to right these wrongs.





	1. Thalia Goes Crazy

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline of this story involves major alterations to the Last Olympian chronology. For instance, Silena manages to break the enchantment of Kronos and does not engage the Drakon. Therefore, her death is avoided. Furthermore, Beckendorf and Percy escape the Princess Andromeda, thus negating Beckendorf's sacrifice and accordingly, his death. The only major character death in the Last Olympian that still stands is the death of Luke Castellan. Also, one of the two major protagonists is of the author's own creation and is not at all addressed in the Percy Jackson franchise. He is pivotal to the procession of the story, as with two children of Hades, swaying both against the Gods would be sufficient to resurrecting Kronos and inciting the third Titan War.

Brooding_Anarchy: Welcome to the Percy Jackson Commentary Corner, starring Percy Jackson and Grover Underwood! How are you doing today, guys?  
Percy: Oh my Gods, not this again…why do you have to do the color commentary on my fanfictions? And who is he?  
Percy gestures at a picture of muscular boy in black clothing and makeup. Grover clears his throat.  
Grover: That is Tobias Rayne, son of Hades. He’s Nico’s brother. I brought him to camp with a pride of Manticores on our heels.  
Percy: Oh no, not another prophecy…  
Brooding_Anarchy: Nope! Not another prophecy, or at least nothing major anyways. Just the new face of Camp Half-Blood! I’ll introduce you guys better later. You mind doing the disclaimer for me?  
Percy: Kinda…  
Brooding_Anarchy: Percy…  
Percy: Fine…this clown by the grace of Zeus does not own my franchise  
Brooding_Anarchy dives on top of Percy.  
Grover: Roll the story!!! Roll the story!! (Tries to separate them and gets sucked into the brawl)  
Chapter One  
Percy POV  
‘Tis the season for Fall cabin inspections, and with about a billion more cabins here, Chiron thought it necessary to have three camp counselors in charge. And, because I can’t just seem to get ahead, he chose the three most neat-freak counselors in the whole darn camp: Silena Beauregard from the Aphrodite Cabin, Katie Gardner from Demeter, and of course, Annabeth…And just like last time she inspected my cabin, I didn’t have Tyson to tidy up, so I got hit pretty hard.  
“You can’t depend on Tyson, you know,” she said, moving a pair of my boxers from the floor to my bed with her pencil. “Good Gods, Percy; this place is almost as dirty as Geryon’s stables.”  
“That’s not true!” I protested. Annabeth hadn’t been with me when I cleaned those things, and the smell alone would have made any Mom faint. “Geryon’s stables didn’t have any of these lovely light-up corals…”  
I clapped my hands and on cue, the lights dimmed, and a barrage of colors filled the room.  
“To light up the place,” I finished.  
For a second, I thought I had Annabeth convinced, and I probably would have gotten a really good score if I hadn’t forgotten about the empty pizza box full of two slices of three-day old mushroom pizza.  
“Three out of five,” Annabeth decided as she scribbled on her clipboard. “And I’m being generous, Seaweed Brain.” She looked over my shoulder as though to make sure no one was outside the cabin and kissed me softly. She clapped her hands and the corals darkened and the dull overhead light flicked on again. She looked uneasy, as though something was weighing on her. She squeezed my hand as though to reassure herself and strode out of the cabin.  
“What’s up?” I asked, jogging after her. Annabeth didn’t say anything, choosing instead to check up on Thalia, who had just hung Aegis over her bed.  
“Clean as usual, Thalia,” Annabeth commented, writing a distinct ‘five’ on her clipboard while Thalia grinned smugly at me.  
“What did Seaweed Brain get?” Thalia asked.  
“Only Annabeth gets to call me that,” I reminded her warningly. “Want to rephrase that one?” Thalia raised her eyebrow as she pretended to think for a few seconds.  
“Kelp-breath?” I rolled my eyes, but nodded reluctantly. Thalia grinned once more and looked at Annabeth again. She seemed to notice what I had noticed in Annabeth earlier, that her heart just wasn’t in the inspection at all. “What’s up, Annabeth?”  
“It’s nothing…” she lied, and was almost through the door when Thalia grabbed her wrist.  
“What’s wrong, Annabeth?” Thalia asked again, much more firmly as she emphasized her name. Annabeth shut her eyes and sighed, as though she knew this was something we were going to find out eventually.  
“It’s Grover,” she said as though this was supposed to clear things up, her hands falling to her side. Thalia and I gaped at her until she went on, “He came across the hill with a whole pride of manticores behind him! A whole pride!”  
My mind was still stuck on the fact that Grover almost became an appetizer for a group of crazed monsters when Thalia was already on the bigger picture.  
“That many manticores?” Thalia questioned. “But that must mean he found a powerful demigod! A really powerful demigod…” Her eyes narrowed in realization and she now bore the same worried expression as Annabeth.  
“I’m going to see Chiron,” she announced, and before either of us could protest, dashed out of the cabin and into the snow, slipping and sliding slightly across the frozen ground. I turned back towards Annabeth, who was running her pencil down her clipboard as though to see who was next.  
“Is somebody going to fill me in on what’s going on?” I asked. Annabeth shook her head wordlessly and strode out of the Zeus cabin. “Hey! Annabeth!”  
It was amazing how much ground Annabeth could cover when she was worried about something. She probably would have left me in the dust if I hadn’t slipped and knocked her and her clipboard into the snow.  
“My Gods, Percy,” she sputtered, spitting snow out of her mouth as she got to her feet. “For a son of the sea god, you really aren’t that balanced on ice.”  
“Ha, ha,” I remarked, handing back her clipboard. “Are you going to tell me what in Hades has you and Thalia so worried?” Thunder rumbled overhead, drawing a nervous glance upwards from Annabeth.  
“You just put your finger on it,” she said simply.  
“What? 'What in Hades?'” I repeated. The thunder clapped harder overhead; the campers around us were staring nervously up at the sky and around themselves, as though they expected a monster to just appear out of thin air and eat them.  
“Percy,” she said nervously. “Stop saying his name! That’s the problem!”  
I hate it when she does this… I thought bitterly.  
“What’s the problem?” I demanded, extremely frustrated with her. “What is wrong with me saying…” Annabeth stared threateningly at me, as though daring me to say Hades’ name again. Probably was going to stab me in the chest with her pencil or something like that.  
“It’s him…Grover found a demigod a few weeks ago; a really, really powerful demigod,” she hissed, looking around to make sure no one was eavesdropping. “And I don’t mean like a child of Apollo or even Athena, either.”  
“So, the Big Three?” I clarified. Annabeth looked around once more, and nodded. “Another one? Which one? Who is it? Where are they? Is it Ha…” Annabeth wrapped me up in a sort of full-nelson, her hand clamped over my mouth.  
“Don’t say his name, Percy!” she hissed more urgently into my ear. “Grover told me about it on the camp chatroom. But yeah, he thinks he’s a son of Hades.” Thunder rumbled overhead once more, though not near as bad as when she said his name.  
“So…it’s a guy,” I said wearily. I glanced over at the Hades cabin, which was unfortunately not on Annabeth’s list. There was definitely movement in there as one of the dark curtains over the windows shifted and an ominous face peered past them briefly, and then quickly vanished behind them. That definitely wasn’t Nico in there.  
“Yes, it’s a guy,” Annabeth cleared up, glancing down at her checklist for a split second. “Look, don’t be mad at Grover. He’s probably still shaken up about the whole thing. We’ll probably meet him later on tonight during dinner. I’ve got to get these cabin inspections done or else I got kitchen duty for a month.”  
“But…” She put her hand on mine, an insistent look on her face.  
“I got to go Percy; go find Grover. He’ll explain this to you,” she said. “I’ll see you tonight, Seaweed Brain!” She kissed me quickly and hurried off in the direction of the Ares cabin. I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, not at the thought of Clarisse’s reaction when Annabeth failed their cabin, but at whatever I was about to hear from Grover. I strode off past the basketball courts, where Apollo and Hermes were squaring off; this has been a morning tradition since Halloween and neither side had been able to scrape together a win streak longer than one in a row. I found Grover sitting on a hill, a half-chewed Green Giant can sitting beside him. He looked even more tense than what I had imagined, and he wasn’t remotely amused at his fellow satyrs’ failed attempts to seduce the local nymphs.  
“What’s up, G-man?” I greeted, sitting down beside him, my frustration with him not telling me that he had almost been eaten ebbing away.  
“The snow, clouds, increasing levels of carbon dioxide,” he mused in a dull voice. Never gets old, that one. Honesty seemed like the best plan of attack in this situation and some part of me, the part that Grover had attached the empathy link to, was pretty sure Grover knew that I had already known.  
“Good one, buddy,” I said, making Grover snort. “I uh, heard you almost became an entrée for some manticores last night.” Grover raised up slightly and looked down his back. A clump of hair was missing near his buttock and the skin was inflamed, like the hair had been ripped off.  
“Good thing, because I would have met Tobi’s father last night if I had,” he remarked. My suspicions were confirmed.  
“So he is a child of…”  
Grover dove on me, clapping a hand to my mouth like Annabeth. Seriously? Why was everyone so uptight about me saying Hades’ name today?  
“Don’t…say…his…name!” Grover warned as I managed to push his weight off of me. “Yes, he is. His name is Tobi.”  
“Tobi?” I repeated, raising my eyebrow.  
“Well, Tobias, actually,” Grover corrected. “Tobias Rayne. He was hanging out with a bunch of guys smoking pot whenever I saw him, but he would refuse every time they passed him the joint. The stench though…that’s probably how he’s been alive all this time. His parents are heavy drug users, too. That’s probably masked his scent from monsters all the way up until…well, a few days ago.”  
“How old is he?”  
“Sixteen,” Grover said casually. “Has a driver’s license and everything. He stopped hanging around the potheads and next thing we knew, that empousa, Kelli, pretended to seduce him and lead him into the band room, only to try and rip his throat out. I don’t know how he got out of that one. We snuck out of school and made for Camp Half-Blood the second he told me what had happened. Only problem is that it’s a pretty long drive from Chicago…the minotaur showed up again and destroyed his car when we pulled over into a Waffle House in Philadelphia.”  
“The Minotaur?” I echoed in awe. “How in the Underworld did you guys escape that?”  
“Turns out this kid being involved in the Theater for most of his life taught him sword play,” Grover went on. “Freaking wicked. I don’t know how he got a hold a Celestial Bronze blade though. Everything went really bad right after he killed the minotaur, because Echidna and her little chihuahua showed up. And they weren’t the only ones, either. The hydra, a few giants, that pride of Manticores. Everything that weren’t the Kindly Ones was on our tail. His Dad must have been looking out for him too, because we escaped a lot of situations that we shouldn’t have.” Grover was speaking more quickly the longer he went on, and when he stopped, he gulped nervously. He looked as though someone had just told him that he was going to have to marry Polyphemus after all.  
“Has he met with Chiron and Mr. D yet?” I asked him. Grover nodded. “That should have gone over well. Mr. D probably fancies him more than he ever did me.”  
“He’s definitely a looker,” Grover remarked, looking pitifully down at a satyr, who had just slipped on ice and knocked the legs out of his three other compatriots. “Like, seriously. He looks like he should be in a band or something. He’s got muscles I didn’t think ever existed.”  
Great, now the whole Aphrodite cabin is going to be after him…  
A thought had just occurred to me.  
“Wait, how did you know he was a son of…our friend downstairs?” I asked.  
“He must have been watching Percy, because his mark appeared over his head before I could even get him to the Big House,” Grover explained. “I don’t know if Nico knows about him yet, but Gods, I’d hate to be in the Underworld cabin when that family reunion takes place.”  
He glanced back down at the satyrs; one of them had managed to get himself a full head of steam and was gaining on one of the nymphs before she turned into a snow-covered tree at the last second, causing the satyr to slam face first into the trunk and get blanketed in snow as he lay unconscious. (You know, Titan’s Curse?)  
“Poor saps,” Grover remarked.  
“Good one, buddy,” I added. Grover snorted for real this time. Thalia came sprinting across the field towards us, her Marilyn Manson hoodie flapping behind her, and her legs distorted muscularly as she drew closer towards us.  
“Grover! Percy!” she shouted. Her combat boots lost traction and she collided with us, sending all three of us tumbling down the hill, half buried in snow. “Sorry!”  
Grover bleated indignantly and pushed himself to his feet, shivering violently as he tried to brush snow out of his fur. I guess if you have fur, the cold sinks much deeper into you. Course I’m more concerned with the possible concussion Thalia just gave me rather than impending frostbite if I didn’t get back to my cabin soon.  
“Grover, why didn’t you tell anyone that you found another child of Hades?” Thalia demanded.  
“Thalia…” Grover started, glancing nervously up at the sky as thunder crashed overhead once more.  
“Oh, I don’t give a damn about that,” she excused. “Well, Grover? You didn’t bother telling me, or Percy, or even Nico for that matter, you know, ‘children of the Big Three’.”  
“I mean, I told Annabeth,” he excused lamely, rubbing his head nonchalantly, looking as though he was bracing himself for Thalia’s explosion.  
“Oh, you told Annabeth!” Thalia half-laughed, half-shouted indignantly. “But you couldn’t tell us! Do you not remember how many of us it took to extract him and his sister from that military school? Don’t you think that it would have been smart of you to bring us along for the trip?”  
“It isn’t that simple, Thalia!” Grover argued back. “You know how hard it was to pinpoint where he was? He definitely knew how to hide himself from monsters. His scent was masked by like, twenty thousand pounds of marijuana, but when it did flicker on, it was strong. Stronger than yours, Percy.”  
Yeah, because that’s not weird at all, your goat best friend saying that someone else’s scent is stronger than yours.  
“Yeah, so?” Thalia excused.  
“So, by the time I found him, he had already ditched his pothead friends and monsters were starting to close in. There wasn’t time for me to call for backup!”  
“But you had time enough to stop at Waffle House,” I pointed out. Grover glared indignantly at me.  
“Blah-ha-ha! You try being attacked by monsters every other hour; you work up a real appetite,” Grover excused. “Plus, we didn’t even get to eat! Stupid minotaur showed up and…” Grover launched into the story about how the minotaur had barreled out of nowhere and nearly flattened them inside a 2016 Camry. Thalia, despite this kid’s surprising prowess in combat, looked unimpressed. The conch shell sounded in the distance, signaling dinner.  
“You’re one lucky goat-boy,” she remarked as we started up the hill. “Is he in the Dead Kids cabin?”  
“Probably,” Grover confirmed. “We’ll probably get a glimpse of him at dinner. Just try not to be all ‘gaga’ over him, Thalia. Last thing I need on my resume is that I dragged back a player demigod.” Thalia punched Grover’s shoulder hard before she slid into a seat at the ‘Big Three Table’. Chiron decided that since there were so few kids of the Big Three that having separate tables was a waste of space, and consolidated them into one. Grover being a satyr could technically sit wherever he pleased, though he usually sat with me whenever Poseidon still had his own table. Nevertheless, he plopped down onto the bench beside me. Thalia and I kept our eyes peeled for the newcomer, trying to pick him out of the mass influx of campers into the pavilion. Thalia, after a few minutes, spotted him skulking behind the Hephaestus cabin.  
Grover hadn’t overexaggerated this kid at all. He looked at least as old as me. His long black hair, which was strategically messy and somewhat spiked in the back and tumbled into his face so that only one of his eyes was obscured, was flecked with snow. The eye that wasn’t covered was boldened by black makeup. His nails were painted black and he wore tight black, pyramid-studded leather fingerless gloves. He sported tight black jeans, knee-high combat boots with chains and spikes dangling from the sides, and a slightly loose leather jacket, in which he had shoved his hands into the pockets. There was upside down star with some sort of squiggly design plastered on what we could see of his black shirt, a design that Thalia seemed to recognize. He looked as though he belonged to a really popular metal band. His muscles bulged through his shirt when he removed his jacket, and as he strode over to the Big Three table, girls’ eyes were turning and following him as he walked. The exceptions were Clarisse, and to my relief, Annabeth’s. This kid however, was oblivious to it all.  
“Ooh! Is that him Grover?” Thalia asked eagerly, her eyes glued on Tobias as he drew closer to our table. Grover nodded his confirmation and, seeing the look on Thalia’s face, grinned teasingly.  
“Careful Thalia,” he crooned. “Artemis will gut you if you jump Tobi’s bones.”  
“Just because I’m a huntress doesn’t mean that I can’t look!” Thalia retorted. “And plus, she amended that rule that Huntresses aren’t allowed to get married. Plus, look at him…”  
She made a low humming noise that nearly killed my appetite. Grover and I scooted away slightly on the bench.  
“Talk about a child of Hades…”  
“Would you like me to get a picture of him for you?” Grover mocked. Thalia kicked his leg hard the table. “Ow! Jeez, I was only joking Thalia!”  
“Hey Grover,” Tobias greeted, sitting in the seat that Grover and I had vacated. Grover seemed to have developed OCD, or maybe he just didn’t like being in the line of fire of Thalia’s punter’s leg, because he stood up and filled the spot beside her. His voice was low and sounded almost identical to a band I knew Thalia had forced me to listen to before.  
“You like…the Black Veil Brides too?” she asked him, almost breathlessly.  
“Yeah, they’re my favorite band. I’ve seen them every time they come through Chicago,” he replied in his low, seductive voice. “I’m friends with the guitar player, Jake Pitts. He gave me a guitar pick.” He fished a black guitar pick out of his pocket and held up to Thalia, who blushed so deep that her face was almost he exact shade of the strawberries sitting in front of us.  
He held out his hand towards her, in which Thalia shook, her hand trembling violently.  
“I’m Tobias,” he introduced. Thalia’s eyes were larger than moons. “And you are?”  
She stuttered for a good five seconds before she managed to regain herself…albeit partially.  
“Th-Th-Thalia…” she said almost breathlessly. “Th-Thalia Gr-Grace.”  
Grover couldn’t contain himself; he was giggling uncontrollably, all dignity forgotten, earning himself a sharp elbow to his ribs from Thalia.  
Chiron stomped his hoof onto the ground and raised his goblet in the air to toast the Gods. Tobias seemed already aware of the proceedings because he didn’t seem at all confused at the campers’ tribute into the fire. In fact, he seemed eager to take part in that because he had tipped nearly half of his bowl of beef stew into the brazen.  
“O Great Dark One, thank you for watching me on my journey to Camp Half-Blood. May your realm bloom evermore,” he muttered ironically. Grover and I exchanged glances with one another, but Thalia looked as though Tobias had just spoken Shakespeare’s sonnets to her.  
“Hey!” Annabeth’s voice hissed into my ear, prodding me sharply in the small of my back with her fork. I nearly leapt out of my shoes at her touch, almost knocking mine and Grover’s plates onto the ground. “Sorry, I forgot…invulnerability.”  
“Yeah,” I breathed, trying to slow my heart rate.  
“The whole Athena cabin is talking; is that him?” she hissed, peering past mine and Grover’s shoulders, trying not to get caught staring.  
“Yep,” Grover confirmed. “That’s Tobias.” He scraped his food into the brazen and mumbled a prayer to Pan.  
“Looks like Thalia’s smitten,” Annabeth commented, watching her smile stupidly as she walked side-by-side with Tobias. “My Gods, she’s actually smitten! I haven’t seen her like that, ever! She’s going to be in a lot of trouble with Artemis if she’s not careful!”  
“Apparently, Artemis changed the rules about Huntresses not being able to marry,” I told, scraping some fruit, steak, and potatoes into the fire and saying my bit to Poseidon. Grover grinned.  
“And how she has taken advantage of that!” Grover mused. “Look at her!”  
Thalia was twirling a length of her hair with her finger and staring at Tobias with such rapture that I was kind of amazed he didn’t have a burn mark in between his eyes…or anywhere else on his face. Annabeth kissed me on the cheek and returned to her table, leaving me and Grover to awkwardly join the Big Three table beside Thalia and Tobias.  
“Grover, Grover, did you know that Tobias can play the guitar?” she demanded quickly, looking so impressed that it seemed like no other feat was greater than this one. Grover leaned back slightly and nodded awkwardly.  
“Yes, Thalia, I did know that,” he said slowly. “He’s pretty good at it too. Playing it and smashing it over monsters’ heads.”  
“Yeah, too bad about that,” he agreed, stabbing a carrot with his fork and popping it into his mouth. He glanced over towards me. “I’m sorry, I promise I’m not ignoring you, bud. I didn’t catch your name earlier.”  
It was my turn to be shocked and entranced. His eyes were gray; not like Annabeth’s, but almost a baby blue. I couldn’t help trusting him, that everything he said was scripture, but the sound of Grover clearing his throat jarred me back to reality.  
“Oh, um, Percy…Percy Jackson,” I said lamely. We shook hands and listened to Tobias tell stories about Chicago, about how he once dragged his mother into the house after she passed out drunk on the doorstep, about how he saved money to go to the Super Bowl and then had to use his money to bail his dad out of jail, about how he made a few mobsters disappear through a fissure he made in the street when they threatened his mother, how the love of his life died from cancer. Thalia gripped every single word he spoke and patted his forearm in comfort, even though Tobias didn’t look at all upset.  
“Bears’ games are something else though,” he assured us. “You have no idea the kind of atmosphere in that stadium. It’s they electrify the place to make you feel even more excited. I’ve seen them play in Cincinnati and Cleveland and those places are nowhere near as exciting as Chicago. No offense to you guys if you’re Giants fans.”  
“Nope, Chicago, Chicago all the way,” Thalia said quickly. “You caught me! Been a Bears fan since birth!”  
Riiiiiiiight…  
“I’m more of a Jets guy,” I commented, and, seeing, the dumbfounded look on his face, nudged Grover hintingly with my toe.  
“Oh, uh, yeah, me too,” Grover said, nodding quickly. “Big Jets fan. Go NFL!” I buried my face in my hands, trying to shove what Grover had just said out of my brain. Tobias seemed to have missed it, though; I didn’t have to guess whether or not Thalia would have caught it.  
Thalia had kicked me and Grover off to the side with Annabeth so she had a log seat with Tobias all to herself at the campfire. She roasted a marshmallow and attempted to share it with him, only for him to turn it down on the premise that it was pure sugar and almost nothing else. She looked extremely put out by that.  
“So, what have you guys found out about him?” Annabeth asked. Grover and I glanced over at Tobias and Thalia, who were too busy talking with each other to notice us.  
“Well, he’s involved with the Theater, his mom is a drug addict and alcoholic, the love of his life died from cancer, he can play guitar and smash it over monsters’ heads,” I listed off.  
“Not that kind of stuff!” Annabeth discarded. “The important stuff! How much does he know about…his world? Our world?”  
“Well, he’s really good at sword fighting,” Grover piped up. “And he’s a good enough with music to pass as a child of Apollo, but that’s about it. Other than that, he just talks about normal teen stuff, like music and sports.”  
He glanced over at Thalia and Tobias again before turning back to us.  
“Apparently, he’s a big Chicago Bears fan, and so is Thalia apparently,” he joked. Annabeth squinted in disbelief at Thalia.  
“Thalia?! A Bears fan?” she repeated, sounding slightly affronted at this. “She doesn’t even follow sports!”  
“Caught on, have you?” I remarked. “If Artemis hadn’t changed the rule about the Huntresses, she would have thrown herself out. She’s in love with him!” Thalia was gazing at Tobias as though he was the sole most beautiful thing in the universe. We tried to ignore them by losing ourselves in the sing-along, but that didn’t work, especially since we heard Thalia mention having a record player and a lot of Black Veil Brides vinyl.  
“You can come over to my cabin later if you want,” she suggested. “Listen to some better music than this.”  
“Alright, that’s it,” Annabeth decided, and she stood up and interjected herself into their conversation by asking Tobias if she could borrow Thalia for a minute.  
“Ten dollars says that Thalia punches Annabeth for killing her vibe,” I bet Grover.  
“You could bet a hundred and I still wouldn’t take that bet,” Grover whispered back, watching as Thalia glared reproachfully at Annabeth. “I hadn’t seen Thalia like this, ever. Especially with Nico, and you’d think she’d have been smitten with him, given the way he acts.”

Percy: (Holding an ice pack to his head) You didn’t have to stick your fingers up my nose, you know…  
Brooding_Anarchy: You didn’t have to call me a clown either. All you had to say is that I have no control over your franchise and that I shouldn’t be sued.  
Percy: Should get punched though.  
Grover: (Holding his hand to his lip) And why did you punch me in the mouth? I was trying to break you two up.  
Percy: I thought you were him! And I already apologized for it like, three times!  
Grover: It still hurts…  
Brooding_Anarchy: I’ll get some ambrosia and nectar in here. Review please, in the meantime!


	2. Tobias Accidentally Chooses His Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Tobias is untrained in suppressing and controlling his abilities, Thalia is left in a slightly comatose state, leaving Percy to issue Thalia a wake-up call. Despite assistance from Silena, Percy is unable to avoid an awkward encounter with Thalia that leaves him more confused than he was prior to meeting Tobias. Meanwhile, Tobias automatically achieves pariah status despite Hades' acceptance among the Olympians. In order to assimilate him into Camp society, Chiron proposes a game of Capture the Flag featuring the Big Three Cabins, Ares, and Aphrodite against the team of the Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Apollo, and Demeter cabins. However, in his first encounter with Silena, Tobias finds himself tongue-tied in her presence and accidentally invokes a challenge to Clarisse, whom he unwittingly taunts.

Percy: You’re a horrible person  
Grover: Can’t you two get along for just five seconds?  
Percy: Have you read this thing? And what’s worse, everything happens for real! Like, seriously dude! Read this!  
Percy shoves the story under Grover’s nose.  
Grover: (finishes reading) Okay…messed up, kinda, but hey, everything turned out okay, right? No one got blown up or turned into a pound of mince-meat or forced to marry a blind cyclops…  
Percy: I’d rather get blown up than this…  
Brooding_Anarchy: Would you, though?  
Percy: (grumbling)…no  
Brooding_Anarchy: Eeeeeexactly! I do not own PJO and probably never will, so read and enjoy!  
Percy: Thank Zeus he doesn’t.  
Chapter 2  
As it transpired, Tobias’ presence emanated a sort-of aura, as Grover described it, that ensnared and entranced those compatible with his typing, a sort of consequence for being a child of Hades. And unfortunately for Thalia, that was exactly the case. Grover said that once she woke up, she’d be okay, but it was probably wise for her stay away from Tobias for a while. Annabeth was off teaching ancient Greek and Grover, doing satyr stuff with his satyr pals (hey, I don’t see him for most of the day, sue me), which by default, left me to issue Thalia her wake-up call. I had just finished breakfast in the pavilion, and, having just narrowly escaped Tobias and his ensnaring trance, did not notice that I was half-staggering, half-sprinting right into Silena Beauregard, nearly sending us both sprawling into the icy dirt.  
“Sorry, sorry!” I apologized, doing my best to catch her empty plate before it smashed on the concrete. Chiron had cantered over conveniently and handed me a broom and dustpan; I had a sneaking suspicion that the centaur had been watching me ever since I came in.  
“Oh well; at least I already finished my Belgian Waffle,” Silena excused with a hundred-watt smile. “How’s Thalia? Last time I saw her was last night and she was arguing with Annabeth about going back to her cabin. Does she…you know…” She made a drinking motion, her hand clasping an imaginary bottle of booze.  
“Not that we know of,” I contradicted. “Grover said it has something to do with Tobias’ aura…whatever that means.”   
“You mean that thing that children of Hades are supposed to have?” Silena elaborated. “You know, they have an aura that like really attracts certain people and others, not so much.”  
“Oh…right,” I agreed, having no idea what she was talking about. I started sweeping up the mess, my mind bouncing triangularly between Tobias, Thalia, and Silena’s broken waffle plate.  
“You okay, Percy?” Silena asked, her eyebrow raised. “You don’t seem you know, entirely here. Like you’re distracted.”  
“Not really,” I lied, pouring the shards of Silena’s plate into a nearby trash can.  
“Well, I don’t have to teach Pegasus riding until ten; you want some company?”  
“Er…”  
It wasn’t that I didn’t like Silena; on the contrary, she was extremely nice and fun to be around, your typical person that anybody would love to be around because she just lights up the place. But right now just didn’t seem appropriate. On the other hand, Silena was wearing an expression that plainly said I didn’t have any choice in the matter. She seemed like she wanted company, too.  
“Uh, okay then,” I agreed. We set off towards Cabin One, and for some strange reason, felt as though someone was watching us. Sure enough, when I turned around, Tobias was watching us from the Big Three table, his expression studious and calculating, as though he were analyzing and drawing conclusions based on what he was seeing. Seriously, how much could you get just from watching two people leave a pavilion?  
“You seem tense, Percy,” Silena repeated. “Something going on with you and Annabeth?”  
My first instinct was to respond with ‘no’, but I had a feeling that Silena would know I was lying. She was an empath, kind of like Grover, though it was more like she was a human with a heightened sense of emotion and emotion detection rather than being like Grover and reading me like my emotions were words written in a book. The truth was that Annabeth and I hadn’t been hanging out as often as we usually did and based on all the conversations that I’ve had with Grover and Thalia about it, there really wasn’t any discernible reason. Annabeth hadn’t undertaken any extra responsibilities, around the camp or anything else. Even her Olympus reconstruction project wasn’t that demanding. She just consistently found excuses to not hang out, like she had counselor stuff to do, or designs to critique, or lesson planning. A slight stabbing pain emanated in my stomach, one that I hoped wasn’t associated with Annabeth, and therefore, something Silena would notice.  
“It’s…nothing,” I lied. Just as I predicted, Silena knew it. Before she could interrogate me further, I pressed her. “What do you think of Tobias?”  
I had no idea why I said that. Silena shrugged.  
“I mean, I see what my siblings see in him. Better yet, I see what EVERY GIRL at Camp Half-Blood sees in him,” she remarked. “I mean, it’s because of that aura he has. But, I just don’t feel affected by his aura. Like he doesn’t creep me out, but there’s something about him that’s definitely…out of place.”  
“This whole place is out of place,” I retorted, stopping in front of Thalia’s door. Ordinarily, I would have just pounded on her door until Thalia would swing it open so hard that she’d knock me off the steps, but for some reason, something was hanging in my throat and my stomach was feeling extremely strange…sick, yet somehow…lighter…  
I would have contented myself with just staring at her door, trying to pensively will her to wake herself up, but Silena sensed the ongoing battle inside my brain. She smirked knowingly at me and knocked gently on the door. When Thalia didn’t answer, Silena wrenched the door open and we let ourselves inside.  
“I’m uh, not sure if we’re allowed to do that,” I said skeptically. Silena waved her hand in disregard.  
“One, the rule is that you can’t be alone in a cabin with a girl,” Silena corrected. “And two, I’m here…not for long, but I am here.” I hoped that in the next five seconds, Silena had a way of waking up Thalia in which Thalia wouldn’t feel compelled to sound the ‘creeper’ alarm. It had just occurred to me that I had never truly been inside Thalia’s cabin, though not without reason. Me and Thalia…Annabeth’s best friend…alone in her cabin…I know I’m not the smartest cookie in the jar, but this one was obvious. The inside of Thalia’s cabin was dark, almost as dark as the Hades cabin. I probably wouldn’t have noticed the swirling storm cloud ceiling if lightning wouldn’t flash every few seconds. One particular flash illuminated the cabin so much so that Selena and I could make out where Thalia was sleeping. She was wrapped from her neck downwards in about a million layers of blankets, and her black hair, which seemed almost impossible to be that length, lay disheveled over her face. I guess that I grown so accustomed to it being spiked that I didn’t think it possible that it would be that long. I couldn’t help but notice how peaceful she looked, how graceful and comforted her occasional sighs sounded…nor was I aware that I had been watching her long enough to notice that stuff. I probably wouldn’t have if Selena hadn’t cleared her throat. Another small lightning bolt flashed, displaying briefly a knowing smirk.  
Out of all the Goddesses that could’ve been her mother, it had to be Aphrodite…  
“Weren’t we waking up Thalia?” she pointed out.  
“Oh…right,” I said awkwardly. I strode past her and inched closer towards her, as though afraid Thalia would suddenly rear up and attack.  
“C’mon Percy, she doesn’t bite!” Silena hissed into my ear. Why did this seem so complicated all of a sudden?  
“Thalia…” I whispered softly, shaking her slightly. Thalia didn’t seem to register that anyone was in her cabin, instead contenting herself to roll over so that she was facing me and Silena. A small streak of lightning illuminated the small splash of freckles on her face and long eyelashes that despite years in each other’s company, I was not aware of. I shook her shoulder harder. “Thalia…wake up…”  
“Five more minutes Grover…” she mumbled groggily. I glanced awkwardly at Silena, who was having difficulty restraining her laughter.  
“Thaaaaaaliaaaa…” I called in a soft voice, tapping her cheek.  
“Shhhh…Percy is sleeping, Grover…” she muttered, and she smiled as my face burned hot. Silena was doubled up with silent laughter. This has to be a trick of the Gods…it just has to be.  
“Thalia!” I said loudly. Thalia’s eyes snapped open and didn’t register me in time before she had punched me hard in the nose. I staggered backwards, nearly knocking over her nightstand, clutching my nose, which now felt like Thalia had crushed with a sledgehammer. In all the kerfuffle (thank Annabeth for teaching me that one), I made out a split second of a bare shoulder and collarbone before the shooting pain delivered courtesy of Thalia’s fist.  
“What the hell, Percy?!” she demanded, yanking her covers up over her chin. “What are you doing in my cabin?!”  
“Waking you up!” I moaned from the floor, my voice muffled from behind my hands as I massaged my nose. “Which unfortunately worked!”   
“Percy I’m not…I’m not wearing anything...” she said through gritted teeth, still not registering that Silena was also in the room.  
“I know that, now!” I fired back. “Holy Zeus, that fucking hurt!” Thalia shook her hand gingerly, still holding the blankets over herself as she watched me. Tears were pouring from my eyes as the pain seared, although luckily, I couldn’t smell any blood. Yet.  
“How…how did you get in here?” she asked.  
“Silena let me in,” I said, getting to my feet. Thalia’s eyebrows raised slightly as she turned to find Silena at the foot of her bed, whose confidence suddenly evaporated now that Thalia was awake.  
“Might want to hurry, Thals,” Silena advised. “Breakfast was almost over when we left. Tobias may have already left by now.”  
“Oh, shit!” she remarked. “Is Chiron mad that I didn’t show up?”  
“Not unless you miss our combat class,” I advised. She and I stared awkwardly at each other for a couple seconds as relief set in on her face.  
“Can you uh, look away for a couple minutes?”  
I turned towards the empty fireplace in her cabin, watched and giggled at by Silena, while my mind went wild with the faint sounds of cloth stretching and snapping against what I presumed to be Thalia’s bare skin. She pulled on her combat boots and her jacket and threw the door open, racing towards the pavilion as though her life depended on it.  
“Uh…promise not to mention that to anyone?” I asked as we strolled through the camp.  
“Wouldn’t ‘dream’ of it,” she teased, her eyebrows raising up and down in rapid fashion.  
“Screw you,” I muttered as Silena trounced away from me, a slight skip in her step and a knowing, taunting smile plastered on her face, probably permanently. My stomach had turned into lead; what if Annabeth had found out that I was in Thalia’s cabin while…  
Probably would discard the fact that Silena was there, too, even though nothing happened, I thought bitterly. But what was that smile she kept giving me? Silena knew something…she definitely knew something. And she was definitely Aphrodite’s daughter, too, based on the way she taunts me. I definitely couldn’t tell Grover about this, even though he’s all sensitive and everything and probably would understand everything. Annabeth was definitely a no-go. Chiron would just give me some philosophical speech that would make me even more confused than I already was. Mr. D would probably incinerate me if I even so much as asked him to talk.  
I did the only thing that made sense right now and slid onto the bench across from Thalia as she shoveled down oatmeal. The only two people aside from us that were still in the pavilion were the Stoll brothers, where were reading something on a smartphone and glancing curiously over at us.  
“Wonder what they’re up to,” Thalia grumbled in between mouthfuls of oatmeal. That same feeling of weightlessness and sickness erupted in my stomach. Her hair was messy, though a strategic sort of messy, even though I knew she had simply rolled out of bed and hadn’t done anything to it. A stray strand was teasing the tip of her nose and I had to fight every nerve in my body to move it from her face. That felt like a huge ‘no-no’ in girlfriend land.  
“Dunno,” I lied, feeling that whatever they were looking at had something to do with us.  
“Thanks for waking me up,” she said, pushing aside her bowl. “I still got a few minutes before I got to grab my stuff.”  
This struck me as odd. No, ‘don’t ever come into my cabin again’; no ‘don’t ever try waking me up, again’; not even a poignant threat.  
“You’re welcome,” I said, and she did something that she had never done before. She held my hand. My brain was melting through my entire body and my chest felt as though a strong electric current had just surged through my blood.  
“I’m really, really sorry for the way I acted last night,” she remarked. “Please don’t think any different of me, Percy. It was…”  
“Extremely un-Thalia-like?” I suggested. Thalia smiled cutely.  
I mentally slapped myself. YOU DID NOT JUST CALL THALIA’S SMILE ‘CUTE’! STOP IT! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!  
I was completely off my game the entire day. Thalia and I were usually pretty well-matched against one another, but today was just not my day. I had been thrown to the arena floor after being disarmed so many times that the taste of dirt was ingrained in my tongue. Even when it came time for the Ares and Aphrodite Cabins’ lesson, I couldn’t catch a reprieve. Clarisse had earned herself a partnership with Thalia when she remarked about my clumsiness after being disarmed by Thalia for the billionth time. Never in my life had I seen Clarisse pulverized the way she was, almost like Thalia aimed to make her regret her insult. Fat chance of that; Clarisse never regretted those. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Silena Beauregard grinning and waving tauntingly at me.

Tobias POV  
Percy seemed kind of strange today. Like, off-kilter. He could barely string two words together this morning during breakfast, albeit understandable when he was talking to that girl he walked off with. I abandoned all dignity and watched her as she walked, no, floated through camp. She was the single most beautiful girl Zeus could grace the Western Civilization with. The way she smiled…like Artemis sewn heads from her silver arrows to form her smile…and Athena weaving the dark tapestry that was her hair. Her blue eyes were so dazzling, as though Hades had popped two special sapphires from the Earth and fashioned eyes for her specifically. I could hear her laugh from the Big Three table and it sounded better than any song the Apollo kids could compose.  
But what should I know? I was a son of Hades, and therefore, by default, outcast. This girl wouldn’t like me even I had the guts to approach her, or any camper at all for that matter. I hadn’t even been here a week and the whole camp is on edge about me. They think I don’t notice them whispering behind their hands as I passed by. That’s fine…I didn’t need them. I used the opportunity after Greek, which was taught by a girl from the Athena cabin named Annabeth, to go for a run with Grover. He had shown me a trail carved specifically for this kind of thing, which was enchanted by satyrs to change route every single time so that you didn’t end up running along a beaten path. My lungs were starting to burn after the sixth mile, and mile nine, I had to rest while Motionless in White screamed out the lyrics to Soft through my headphones.  
“Don’t quit now!” Grover advised. “We still have sixty-six more miles to go!”  
Sixty-six?! How much do they think I can take?  
“You go!” I panted, brushing my sweaty hair from my hot face. “I’ll catch up!” That was a damn lie…I had no chance of catching up to Grover, especially with him acting like this was nothing and leading me the entire time. Grover clapped a hand onto my back as I pulled my hands behind my head, trying to take in as much oxygen as my lungs could process.  
“What’s up?” he asked. “You look like something’s bothering you.”  
“Don’t *gasp* worry *gasp* about it *gasp*,” I assured him, patting his chest weakly. When Grover continued to stare skeptically at me, I went on, “I haven’t even been here a week and I feel like the entire camp hates me. They don’t want to come up and talk to me; they just stare at me and whisper stuff behind my back.”  
Grover looked sadly at me.  
“Blah-ha-ha! I’m not saying that their reason is justified but…” He puffed, as though steeling himself for what he was about to say next. “You’re a son of Hades. And even though he’s accepted on Olympus now, it doesn’t change the type of power he radiates. That you radiate.”  
I felt a slight hurt from his words.  
“Look,” Grover said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I like you! You’re a pretty cool dude! I mean, you fought off the Minotaur and the Chimera without any formal training! You can play guitar, you can write, you can draw, you can fight…you’re like every kind of demigod rolled up into one awesome package. A package with a really powerful dark side, but…”  
“What good is all that if I don’t have anyone to share it with?”  
“You can share it with me,” Grover protested. I stared at him; I had almost said that Grover wasn’t enough reception, but I somehow caught a vibe that Grover was the extra-sensitive type. Instead, I contented myself with clapping him appreciatively on the back.  
“Thanks Grover,” I said. Grover was staring at me like he had an all-access remote to my brain.  
“Why are you so nervous about talking to Silena?”  
So that’s her name…that…is undeniably the most beautiful name. She is literally named ‘The Moon’, probably because her aura is about as radiant as moonlight.  
“You could put Hallmark out of business with those thoughts,” Grover commented with a straight face.  
“I hate you,” I shot at him. Grover chuckled and continued to stare expectantly at me, as though he was still waiting for my answer. I shrugged. “I don’t know…she just seems way too perfect to go out with some messed up son of Hades. She’s beautiful…popular…everyone seems to love her…”  
“And I have yet to hear a reason that tells me that you shouldn’t go out with her,” Grover remarked. I wasn’t sure if satyrs could raise eyebrows, but if they could, Grover most certainly was.   
“Going out is a two-way street,” I reminded him.  
“Yes, I know,” Grover said. “Look, I know Silena and she doesn’t care about status. At all. She was nice to Percy when everyone treated him like dirt. She’ll definitely be nice to you. Just Hades up and talk her, bro. Just…don’t feed her a pomegranate and imprison her in your cabin for Winter, okay?”  
“I don’t know…what would I even say to her?” I asked skeptically. Grover pulled a face like he was thinking really hard on something and I could tell in about five seconds, I was going to get a spoonful of sarcasm. Sure enough…  
“This may be a stretch, but you could try saying, HELLOOOO…” Grover advised, his voice turning mockingly deeper as he stretched the word out.  
“Funny.”  
“I’m messing with you,” he said. “And stop calling yourself messed up! You’re not messed up! You just have a really…tumultuous past…”  
A conch horn sounded in the distance; I checked my phone. It wasn’t even lunchtime yet…what in the world could Chiron be summoning us, for? Grover’s eyes widened suddenly.  
“Oh shit, we better hurry! Chiron might be lenient about the details of the trail, but Mr. D definitely won’t be,” he advised, scampering off so fast that he was out of sight before I could really get up to speed.   
Apparently, we weren’t the only inhabitants on the trail either. When Grover and I finally found our way out, a few stragglers, mainly from the Hermes cabin were popping up behind us, red-faced and panting as they hurried to the concession of demigods around Chiron.  
“Ordinarily, I would wait until dinner to announce this,” he began as demigods continued to flood in. “But first, I would like to call Tobias Rayne forward.” The whole camp went silent as though sound itself had forgotten how to function. Grover nudged me forward slightly. The campers looked around and as I drew closer to Chiron, they parted to form a path, their expressions a diversity of attitudes. Some looked as though they were studying me, while others, most likely from the Ares cabin, glaring threateningly at me, as though grinding me into the dirt beneath their shoes seemed highly appealing. I stepped up a raised platform and stood to face the demigods beside Chiron. In the middle, I could spot Thalia and Percy, who looked both awkward and happy at the idea of being beside one another.  
“This is Tobias Rayne, son of Hades!” Chiron introduced, his hand upon my shoulder. There was an outbreak of muttering, which was quickly stifled after a few seconds. “I want each and every one of you to make him feel welcome here at Camp Half-Blood!” And at this, Chiron threw a look at a rugged looking girl who was looking at me as though pounding my face in was her recreational sport.  
“Therefore, this Friday night, we will be hosting Capture the Flag!” Chiron continued. “The blue team will comprise of the following cabins.” He pulled a roll of parchment from out of nowhere and reading glasses magically appeared on his nose. I looked at him in shock, although tried to hide it immediately as none of the campers looked surprised at this development.  
“Thalia and Percy as captains, comprising of Hades, Ares, and Aphrodite cabins.” Chiron read out. I glanced at Thalia and Percy, who both looked slightly happier than they should have at this development. “The red team, captained by Annabeth and Beckendorf, will consist of Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Demeter, and Apollo cabins. Satyrs are free to choose their side should they want to participate. That is all! Please return to your activities!”  
Thalia, Percy, and Grover were beaming at me when I stepped down from the platform.  
“Sweet, the Big Three cabins plus the Ares and Aphrodite cabins, this will be a cinch!” Percy said, punching the air. Thalia shook her head and rolled her eyes, as though Percy’s attitude was a normal thing.  
“Don’t forget that Athena captains the red team; you can bet Annabeth is going to have strategy upon strategy,” Thalia assured us. “But so will we. You coming to combat training later?”  
She addressed me so suddenly that I was caught by surprise.  
“Oh, uh…yeah,” I said stupidly. The girl named Silena had just strode up to us alongside the rugged looking girl who was staring threateningly at me during Chiron’s speech, and my mind had gone completely and blissfully blank.  
“Good,” Thalia commented. “We need to get into shape if we plan on flattening Annabeth. Seven o’clock sharp. Don’t be late!” She pointed her spear at me in confirmation; I nodded quickly, not wanting to become a Tobias-kabob. Grover elbowed me in the ribs and cleared his throat just loud enough for me to hear.  
“Say something,” he urged. “She’s right there, what could go wrong?”  
About a million things, I thought wildly. She says that I smell like a dead person; she laughs at me, she says she doesn’t talk to children of Hades…Grover was staring insistently at me as I listed the possibilities in my brain. I felt his hand in the small of my back pushing me progressively harder towards her, shoving me so suddenly that I almost collided with her.  
“Oh, hi!” she greeted in surprise, brushing her hair back.  
“Um…uh…h-hel-hel….” I stuttered. My voice had malfunctioned; I could hear the cogs and gears in my brain groaning from intense pressure, but nothing seemed to jar it back to normal. Silena was staring curiously at me as I stared at her feet. She wore studded combat boots with a distinct bulge in the side of her right foot, as though she had stowed something there, and judging from its shape, most likely a knife. The rough looking girl beside her brushed her aside and stepped forward, closing the distance between us.  
“You got something to say, punk?” she growled at me. My fear suddenly faded, I looked up at her. There was intense loathing in her brown eyes, but despite the aura the other campers may perceive of her, I saw no threat. “Name’s Clarisse, daughter of Ares. And I just asked if you’ve got a problem.”  
“Yeah, I can tell you didn’t brush your teeth this morning,” I fired back before I could stop myself. Out of the corner of my eye, Percy was biting his lip in restraint. Clarisse’s eyes narrowed menacingly.  
“I don’t care how special you think you are; you’re still nothing but a punk to me,” she fired back. “I don’t care if you killed Typhon, but we definitely have a problem if you disrespect me or Silena. You better not get in my way Friday night, or else…”  
Silena did not look at all disrespected, more or less awkward at the procession in front of her.  
“Or else what?” I asked challengingly.  
“Or else I run you through with my spear, that’s what!” Clarisse threatened, stepping so close that our chests grazed against each other. Thalia and Percy stepped forward in between us, trying to push us apart, but Clarisse wanted no part of it, as she tried to push past Thalia. “You know what, if you think you’re such a hot shot, why don’t you take me on tonight? One-on-one…I want to see what kind of mince-meat corpse breath produces.”  
“Deal,” I said. Clarisse shrunk slightly and pulled herself out of Thalia’s grip, marching away from the procession with her cabin in tow. Silena stared after Clarisse and then looked back at me.  
“I’m sorry about Clarisse,” she apologized. “She can get intense at times.”  
No kidding, I thought.  
“Well, I got to go back to class. I’ll see you around, Tobias!” She winked and smiled at me as she turned on her heels and ran off towards the pegasi stables. My mind was completely and blissfully blank and my leg muscle had turned to jelly; I probably would have forgotten that I had a duel with the counselor of the Ares cabin if Grover hadn’t jarred me back to reality.  
“Dude, are you sure you want to do this?” Grover hissed. “Clarisse gets all sorts of magic weapons from her Dad! She’ll turn you into mush if you’re not careful, even if you’ve beaten the Minotaur and the Chimera!”  
But my mind was made up. I wasn’t going to back down from a challenge, especially not from some puffed up Ares camper. But even I couldn’t deny, as I arrived at the Archery Range for my first lesson with Chiron, that somehow, my prospects with Silena were inextricably linked to how well I fought tonight. 

Percy: Tobias is absolutely insane…  
Grover: I tried to talk to him out of it, but he’s way too determined to impress Silena. I don’t know what to do.  
Percy: Short of making this idiot cancel the story, nothing. I mean, it’s his fault anyways! He’s the one making him do this!  
Percy points at Brooding_Anarchy  
Brooding_Anarchy: When will you learn that I always have an ace up my sleeve? Just wait…  
Percy: I know you always have an ace up your sleeve! And what’s worse, something always happens to me…or someone else.  
Brooding_Anarchy: You’re so smart Percy…want a cookie?  
Percy: No  
Brooding_Anarchy: Whatever…review please! This fanfic is extremely fun so feedback would really help keep the creative juices flowing!  
Percy: If you are at all a decent human being…  
Brooding_Anarchy: Percy…  
Percy: Please do not read this thing anymore! Have mercy on me…and Grover…and Thalia for Zeus’ sake!  
Brooding_Anarchy: I’m warning you…  
Percy: And post the worst reviews you can think of!  
Brooding_Anarchy: That’s it!  
Brooding_Anarchy chases Percy from the room.  
Grover: Review please! And don’t leave any negs… I actually want to see how this is going to turn out! Don’t listen to Percy. Now, if you’ll excuse me…  
Grover leaves to break up Brooding_Anarchy’s and Percy’s fight.


End file.
